DHAKA: Expressing disappointment on the Supreme Court order that stayed BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s High court bail order, party secretary general Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said courts are simply reflecting government’s wishes.

Fakhrul made the remarks at a pres briefing in party’s Naya Paltan central office on Wednesday noon (March 14).

A four-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain stayed till Sunday (March 18) the order of the High Court that granted bail to BNP Chief Khaleda Zia in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

Fakhrul said, “We are heartbroken by the SC order. The government is destroying every institutions of the country and now the judiciary is being gripped so that opposition parties won’t get legal chances.”

BNP also alleged that the government’s main objective is to keep BNP away from election by creating new obstacles.

Earlier on Monday (March 12), an HC bench of Justices Enayetur Rahim and Shahidul Karim granted bail for four months to Khaleda Zia.  

On February 8, a Special Court in Dhaka sentenced Khaleda Zia to five years' rigorous imprisonment in the graft case.

The court also jailed her elder son Tarique Rahman, now acting chairman of the BNP, and four others for 10 years.

BDST: 1645 HRS, MAR 14, 2018
AP